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April 19, 2003
Student volunteering worth $17.5 billion
Reported in the Campus Cares online discussion the, "The importance of community service and civic engagement to higher education’s mission, and the ways in which colleges and universities implement that commitment in the classroom and through campus activities and events." Discussing how civic engagement and volunteerism are important to the nations institutions of higher education in fact they did a fairly interesting study that produced some figures of what the economic benefit of volunteerism is on those institutions. “Service to the community and the world has long been an integral part of the nation’s colleges and universities, in many cases dating back to their founding. Campus volunteerism is a powerful force in society. The value of the volunteer service of students alone has been estimated at more than $17.5 billion for 1999-2000, and that figure ignores the substantial volunteer efforts of faculty, staff, and administrators.” Imagine this figure within the world of the Civic Honors Project where it would be possible to really increase the numbers of individuals volunteering within the community and to increase the relationship between volunteers and organizations in such a way that the community becomes more aware of how volunteering can impact the community.
The relationship between Universities and volunteering is clear and the assumptions about why the relationships are valid which creates the question what is stopping organizations from increasing volunteerism within the community currently. Without focusing on building a central location for information building a sustainable base of volunteers is difficult because as opportunities change and availability of volunteers shift the reality is new information becomes integral to sustaining volunteering within the community. It is true that some volunteers stay with one organization they entire time they are involved within the community however it is also true the majority of volunteers will constantly be looking and available to new opportunities. Students are an example of a special case under that consideration where for a limited period of time they have a high availability but a significant lack of information about how and where to get involved.
Students therefore are a key building block of creating a lasting network of individuals who are willing to spend there time within the community. A Civic Honors program provides two services that have a value that is immeasurable because it energizes a labor pool through providing the incentive of graduating with Civic Honors while it introduces students to volunteering which is important to creating a sustainable level of civic engagement throughout that student’s life. The emphasis is on showing the individual or the student in this case what it means to volunteer and introducing a positive sanction in the form of community recognition through graduation with Civic Honors. This reinforces a positive association with volunteering and hopefully creates a life long lasting interest in being a part of the community.
472 words posted by nels lindahl at 03:25 PM
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